Music in Russia

Tulin G. Karasay

History of Russian Music• Russia's musical heritage runs far deeper than the classical

composers the world knows and loves. It stretches back nearly two millennia, to when 6th-century Greek writers described Eastern Slavic musicians, the ancestors of today's Russians, strumming psalteries.

• These ancient roots were gradually transformed through extensive contact with other European and Asian cultures. Russia's music unites Slavic tradition with sounds from Byzantium, Scandinavia, the multiethnic Eurasian steppes, and the staggeringly diverse Caucasus, and has expanded from zithers, epics, and ritual songs to embrace the large number of instruments and genres still loved and played in the country today (National Geographic Music).

History of Russian Music Contd.

• Soviet-era musicians took Russia's traditional music from the fields and streets into the conservatory, creating large orchestras of modified folk instruments designed to parallel Western classical ensembles. A canon of Russian politically correct folk songs emerged, performed by everyone from the Red Army Chorus to guitar-playing students hanging out in university dorms. Many of these songs live on today, around campfires and on the airwaves. In reaction to this conservatory style, several innovative post-Soviet folk ensembles have attempted to return to the complex sonic textures, striking dissonances, and unusual instrumentation culled from the Soviet vision of Russian ethnic music (National Geographic Music).

History of Russian

Balalaika

Balalaika (“Belly Scratcher”)

Balalaika is the most well known Russian stringed instrument. Balalaika has triangular body. The Balalaika family, like that of the violin, comes in many sizes, from small 1/4-size children's instruments to large double-bass concert Balalaikas. Balalaika was first mentioned in a document which dates back to XVII century (1688).

History of the Gusli

The Gusli is one of the oldest known Russian musical instruments. The Greek historians Theofilact and Theophan were the first to mention the gusli: Under the war in the end of the 6th Century, the Greeks took Slavonic prisoners and found a musical instrument named the gusli. The instrument is described as an easy 5 stringed box made of wood. These strings were tuned like this: A, C, E, G, A. It was played like this: the strings that were not to be used were muted with the left hand, and a playstick was placed in the right hand. The playstick was used to press the rest of the open strings. The gusli was only used as accompaniment to the song and especially to the travelling scalds who used their songs to tell about the antiquity and to praise the princes and their relations. Little by little, more strings were put on the gusli - 10 then 13 - and the way of playing was changed. In the 18th Century, guslis standing on legs were built in Saint Peterburg.

History of the Gudok

Gudok - authentic Russian folk three-string pear-shaped bowed instrument that is usually held vertically. It has 3 strings: 2 of them were tuned in unison and the 3d - one fifth higher. All 3 strings were placed in the same plane, so a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes it has also several several (up to 8) resonant strings under the upper sounding board. These made gudok's sound warm and rich. When playing gudok an artist held it on it's lap like a cello or viola da gamba. Initially (in 12th century and probably before) gudok was played using harmonics only, without pressing strings to instrument's neck. Later (in 14th century and after) some modifications of gudok had a real neck for pressing strings, but this wasn't very useful because of specific instrument's shape and was an obvious borrowing from fiddles.

Russia’s Pop Arena

• The main pop arena, however, is Russia's two cultural capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, where clubs feature everything from avant-garde jazz to house music to heavy metal. During Gorbachev's attempts to reform the Soviet system, these cities were incubators for innovative new groups drawing on everything from Asian mysticism to Soviet kitsch and Russian folk music, from Symbolist poetry to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Bohemian rock bands played concerts in cramped private apartments or small auditoriums and criticized Russia's leaders and culture with a sly, lyrical wink. Passed informally from fan to fan on dubbed cassettes, these bands' songs became anthems for creative urban youth longing for new possibilities and social change.

Featured Artists

Elena Frolova- As a teenager, Elena Frolova recieved an award for songwriting. As shmatured, she presents another face of Russian music, based on the works of Nabokov, Joseph Brodsky, Tarkovsky and Marina Tsvetaeva. She also sings her own poems. —Courtesy Calabash Music

Elena Frolova, YouTube

Megapolis Nomads Land- Being a gypsy is just as much a state of mind as it is an ethnic group, and the members of Nomads Land come from different horizons.

Featured Artists Contd.

Glu'koza     Essential Hit:  Ой-ой      Glu'koza, YouTube Video

Dima Bilan     Essential Hit:  Ночной хулиганDima Bilan, YouTube Video

Otpetye Moshenniki     Essential Hit:  Лето-это

     Propaganda     Essential Hit:  Мелом 

Bibliography

"Russia." Nat Geo Music. National Geographic. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. <http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/russia_878/en

Russian Traditional Musical Instruments. Barynya. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. <http://www.barynya.com/sale.stm>.

"The School of Russian and Asian Studies." The School of Russian and Asian Studies. SRAS, 9 Apr. 2007. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. <http://www.sras.org/library_russian_music>.